Maybe going against the grain is in my genes, in my blood. My parents fought for a more just system, a more open and democratic system all their lives back in Hungary. I remember going out to the peaceful demonstrations that preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall. My university years in San Diego back in the 1990’s, was not exactly the era of protesting. Those were the times of Wall Street high and absolute bliss. While most of my classmates were busy applying to business schools, I sat in intersections with my friends discussing philosophy, literature and human justice. So it is not surprising that even in yoga I find myself going against current trends.
More and more magazines and social feeds reduce yoga to sexy flexibility in order to advertise clothing, “health” foods, or props. Yoga is getting commercialized to a point where it is starting to lose its original message. There is enough yoga merchandise now to flood the Danube, as we say back home. In the midst of all these material goods, it is harder and harder to see yoga as meditation, as mindfulness, as a way releasing attachment from the wants of the ego. But yoga is so much more than exercise with entertainment; it is a philosophy of being, and a practice of mindful self-awareness.
I am also a business owner, I need to make a living if I want to keep doing what I love to do. This is quite a conundrum. How do I balance my need to stay with the times with my instinct to go against the grain? How do I keep yoga in yoga and stay relevant?
Going against the mainstream is a lifelong journey for me. The more I see the commercialization of yoga, the more I wish to fight it. I feel it is my duty to keep providing intelligent, comprehensive and well thought out yoga practice to the community. I have never been so inspired to write in-depth Teacher Trainings, interesting Yoga Workshops, and long articles to keep the mind thinking and engaged.
I did, however, decide to join the times. I decided to step up my activity on Facebook and start an Instagram account. I will somehow try to balance the current need for catchy inspirational photos with meaningful quotes, messages, and yogic wisdom. Beyond beautiful pictures and quotes, I will also be posting recommended readings, books to feed your mind and soul and my blogs on current events and random thoughts about yoga.
I hope I will succeed in providing a quality social media for you.
So if you are looking for a little daily inspiration?
Join us on Facebook and or Instagram @spirapoweryoga.com
Here is a little taster: I love this quote from Milan Kundera. Reading, and lingering on these words with a cup of coffee in the morning sure beats the morning television.
“The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground… The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?”
-Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera is a Czech-born writer who went into exile in France in 1975, and became a naturalized French citizen in 1981. He “sees himself as a French writer and insists his work should be studied as French literature and classified as such in book stores”.)
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